Take Two
by allythebunny
Summary: My best friend's ending on my original story, 'Annabeth's Nightmares.'


Annabeth studied the people around her carefully. What exactly was she getting into?

"Annabeth, just think about this!" Nico pleaded.

"Nico. You're a nice guy. Most of the time. Don't make me hurt you."

Annabeth looked at Percy. He was staring at her cautiously, like he was trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"I'm going to wake up, and this will all be a dream," Annabeth murmured. "I'll wake up and figure out that I'm actually going out with Percy still, that he didn't just discover me and Nico making out…"

"You admit it, then." Percy raised a shaking hand and pointed it at Annabeth.

"Percy!" she squeaked. "Think about this. This is all just a really, really bad dream."

"I sure hope so, because then when I wake up, you'll be alive…" Percy growled. Annabeth stared for a moment, then realized his meaning. "You're kidding, right? Percy…"

She didn't get the chance to finish. Water roared above her, and suddenly she was sinking. And unlike usually when Percy was around, she couldn't breathe…

* * *

><p>Annabeth awoke in a cold sweat. It HAD just been a dream. She turned over and saw Malcolm on the bunk bed across from her. He was snoring gently, and it lulled her frantic mind. Thank goodness Percy hadn't actually discovered her. Nico was sleeping in the Hades cabin at the moment, naturally. Annabeth jumped off of her bed. Her bunk-mate raised an eyebrow sleepily.<p>

"Just going to the bathroom," Annabeth whispered, and Tillie went back to sleep. Annabeth stole out of the cabin and towards the very end of the male cabin row, where the Hades cabin was. Where Nico slept, alone. She let herself in, knowing that he would still be awake.

"Annabeth. What are you doing up this late?" Nico asked her from his sitting place by the fountain. He looked up at her. A boy was still talking in the Iris-message.

"I couldn't sleep. I was having nightmares." Annabeth grimaced.

"Hold on. Barry, I'll have to call you back. Yeah, it's urgent. Bye." Nico swiped his hand through the rainbow, ending the IM. "What is it? What did you dream?" he beckoned Annabeth over with one hand, the other propelling himself off of the chair towards her. Annabeth stumbled into his arms. "I dreamed that Percy found out about us."

"That will never happen, Annabeth. I promise." Nico held the older girl in his arms as her shoulders began to shake.

"But what if he does?"

"Then we'll take it as it comes. He must know that he can't have you forever."

"But I'm cheating on him."

"No, you're not."

"Um…" Annabeth looked at Nico oddly.

"Okay, yeah, you are. Doesn't matter. Just break up with him."

"I can't…" Annabeth covered her face with her hands. Nico sat down on his bed, and Annabeth sat on his lap, crying.

"It's okay," he soothed. "It'll work out in the end. It usually does."

Annabeth glanced up at him through her damp eyelashes. He was looking down at her protectively, and suddenly she couldn't resist. She kissed him. It wasn't like it was her first time kissing him or anything. He hugged her to his chest and responded forcefully, opening his mouth and running his tongue across her lips. She opened her lips and their tongues battled for dominance as they toppled sideways onto the bed. Nico parted and smiled at her.

"It'll be okay. I promise."

* * *

><p>So how did it all come to this, you might ask? Well, I'll tell you. Yeah, that up there, that was my attempt at third-person writing. I'm Annabeth. It all started at the party up at Olympus. Thalia and I were dancing, since Percy was back with his parents. Thalia went to get some refreshments, and suddenly Nico had taken over the DJ seat and had dedicated a song to me. He then proceeded to jump onto the floor and do this whole complicated dance routine. And the girl who had a crush on him for, like, ever, Tillie, my bunk-mate, was just watching me with these insanely big eyes. Ouch, right? Thalia and Percy arrived by my side almost at the same time, around when the song was finishing. They clapped, not knowing what it was. I just stared at Nico. Who knew he had it in him?<p>

A few days later, I was helping Nico fix up a chariot for the races that week. He was underneath, tinkering, when I noticed that he had a picture of me taped to the wall in his private garage thing. There was another, smaller one that had fallen to the floor. I picked it up and put it in my pocket to study later. Nico came out from under the chariot and took my hand. I blinked, but remained composed. Outwardly. Inwardly, I was freaking out. Naturally. Nico stepped into the shadows, and suddenly, we were in a place filled with light. We stepped out of the only shadow there. Then he kissed me. And my heart melted. I thought I had found an amazing kisser in Percy. Nico proved me wrong. He pressed his lips against mine, tilted his head, and I could feel sparks flying off of my lips. You read romance novels where the heroine simply melts against her lover. I didn't think that was real before. But, heck was I wrong. I melted against Nico like ice against a flame. He opened his mouth and licked my lips. I almost opened my mouth… but then he stepped back.

"I'm sorry, Annabeth. I shouldn't have done that. I just had an uncontrollable urge."

My voice came out husky and weird. "It's okay, Nico." What the heck?

"Hmm. I dunno…" Nico looked at me, silently pleading for me to say something that would allow him to continue.

"You're a really good kisser…" I prompted. Screw Percy. Nico… Nico's lips… that was all I could think about. And Nico sort of got that. His hands entwined my body in a crushing embrace as our lips touched. I felt warm, protected. Then his hand started creeping up the back of my shirt, and I backed away.

"Dude, you're two years younger than me."

"You did ask for it… sort of." Nico's voice was husky now, too.

"I know…" I sighed. "But I've got Percy…" Even I couldn't mistake the guilt in my voice. Percy would be crushed if he knew.

"You don't need him. He's in love with someone else. That new girl, Emily. He's completely infatuated with her. He just doesn't show it around you."

But I knew he was lying. He HAD to be. I mean, what kind of boyfriend would go behind his girlfriends back and become infatuated with someone else?

Didn't that sound familiar somehow?

I nearly burst into tears. Nico grasped my chin, tilted it upwards so I was looking into his face.

"Forget Percy, Annabeth. He's not good enough for you."

"And you are?" I croaked.

"No, I'm not. But I'm better than him."

Days blew by like gusts of wind, and suddenly it was time for camp to be over. Percy would leave for the next nine months, and I'd have Nico all to myself. I saw Percy outside of his cabin, giving it one last go-over.

"How soon are you leaving?"

"Two hours." He answered quickly, and kissed me. It was surprising. Usually, I was the one who kissed him.

"What was that for?" I asked, confused.

"What, a guy can't kiss his girlfriend?" Percy responded. I slowly shook my head.

"Percy, you make no sense sometimes." I walked away, not giving him a chance to respond.

"Do you think he knows?" I asked Nico. He shook his head.

"He couldn't. We've been so careful. He could never know about us. It's just not possible." Nico sounded sort of panicky.

"Nico… he's gone. He's in New Yorkuntil next June. We've got nine months all to ourselves now!" I tried to sound cheerful. "And next June, I can tell him that I got tired of waiting for him, so I'm with you now."

"He'll kill us both."

"No, he won't. We're his friends. He's not like that. Remember Luke?"

"Who doesn't?" Nico muttered.

"He always hesitated before trying to kill him. Like he didn't want to kill someone who used to be his friend. You see what I mean?"

"Yeah, I see." Nico smiled. "We're all right." He pulled me over to him and I hugged him. He had shot up about a foot since the last summer, so he was now about a head taller than me. Boys. He pulled me into a tight embrace, tighter than my hug.

"C'mon. We've got archery in ten minutes." He kissed me lightly on the forehead and I nodded, but didn't move. I was too comfortable in his arms. "Annabeth," he pleaded. "Let's go." I nodded firmly and Nico let me go. I suddenly missed his arms. They were so warm and firm and comforting…

I was golfing with Percy. We were on a golf course overlooking the sea. Emily and I were standing and talking, when all of a sudden, Percy was there. And Emily tried to kiss him, the ditzy girl she was, but he just pushed her away. And then she stumbled, and she fell off of the cliff and into the ocean… I stared at Percy, but he didn't even notice. He just kissed me. And then we both lost our footing, and started falling into the ocean. Suddenly it was Nico, not Percy, and that's when I knew: we were going to die.

I woke up with a strangled scream. Nico was standing in the shadows by my bed as quickly as lightning.

"Annabeth." He said in a hushed tone. "What's wrong?"

"I just had a nightmare is all."

He raised his arms and plucked me out of my bed like I was a rag doll or something, and suddenly we were in his cabin. "Shadows are everywhere at night, so I can move around easily. Now, are you okay?"

I nodded. "Just before he left, Percy kissed me. What does that mean?"

"It means that he doesn't want to feel so guilty about cheating on you."

"You really think so?" I asked, and Nico nodded. I must have been insane. What girl, after all, is comforted when she hears that her boyfriend is probably cheating on her?

"I dreamed that Percy pushed us off of a cliff…" I mumbled. Nico grimaced at me, and grabbed me and held me in his arms. I felt so warm and comfortable in his arms, it was hard to stay sad for long.

"You can't stay here all night without permission from Dionysus." Nico pointed out.

"I'll ask him tomorrow. Malcolm can be head of the Athena cabin for all I care."

"That works for me…"

* * *

><p>Dionysus okayed it, but not without making trouble. And so I stayed in Nico's cabin for the rest of the year. It created LOADS of gossip, but we chalked it up to Nico missing Bianca. Who all believed it, that I don't know. Meanwhile the nightmares become a daily occurrence and merely got worse. I dreamt that all of Camp Half-blood was in a glass house waiting for Dionysus and some others to show up. When all of a sudden we all saw that new girl Emily and of all people PERCY leaning against a telephone pole snogging each other within an inch of their lives. Then they come in with each other as though nothing happened. Of course all the guys were congratulating Percy and for some strange reason he didn't seem mortified in the least bit. Emily was pretending that nothing happened although you could see a slight blush creep onto her face. I woke up shaking. Thankfully Nico woke up too. He climbed up to my bed and asked me in a worried tone as he holds me "What's wrong? Did you have another nightmare?" I am only able to nod in answer. He just held me and rocked me slowly back and forth comforting me just with his presence.<br>Next thing I knew it was morning. And Nico was gone. I checked my clock and cursed. I had exactly 10 minutes before breakfast. I quickly showered and got dressed barely making it. Breakfast was…Interesting to say the least. Two words, Food fight. It all started as I raced to the Athena table momentarily forgetting myself. Only once I had given my offering did I notice that everyone was staring at me including Nico. Then and only then did I realize that I had sat at the wrong table. Blushing slightly I scooted over to the Hades table as discreetly as I could. "How did you sleep?" Nico asked only adding to my blazing hue. Of course being Nico he failed to notice, his face echoing his question. Unfortunately I didn't answer quick enough "Why would you care?" 'Oh-no' I turned and saw Emily standing directly behind me. My first instinct was to flip her, second answer, third strangle her. I decided that the second would be most socially correct. "He's worried because I have been having nightmares." I confidently answered. Wrong answer. As soon as the last word left my big mouth the "Cafeteria" was loudly echoing the howls, shrieks, chuckles, and downright evil laughs coming from my fellow campers. Then I snapped, I promptly and effectively threw my oatmeal at the back of that loathing Emily. Instead of laughs all of a sudden there were gasps of surprise and disbelief.  
>My fury was legend but in her short time here Emily had built a reputation of her own. A reputation built on Justice. Whenever someone wronged anyone else, specifically her, she stood up to the wrong doer. Sickeningly sweet, cute, and generous Hephaestus camper Emily turned around redder than Aphrodite's favorite lipstick and threw her omelet at me but due to everyday workouts my reflexes were honed I ducked just in time to miss it unfortunately it landed on one of the Ares' campers face. Of course retaliation was in order I mean it's the Ares cabin we're talking about for Apollo's sake. So eventually even Dionysus joined in. Wait. Come to think of it, he was one of the first people to fling food at the Artemis table.<p> 


End file.
